Architecture in Minorca

Architecture is a fairly faithful reflection of the evolution, growth or decline of a people. It can be a reliable, incorruptible witness, almost always irremovable, of their past behaviour and become the notary that records the day-to-day life without any significant omissions. In Menorca the houses and monuments enable us to “read” history, the passing and settlement of distinct peoples and cultures in the region: in visits to the prehistoric excavations or in strolls around the village streets, through the architecture one can take in detailed lessons of knowing how people live and survive. Here there is also a very characteristic rural architecture, starting with the unending dry stone walls marking the property borders and protecting the crops from the wind. Within the great squares they outline, white houses are scattered amidst the green fields or form little bunches around the villages. They have greatly contributed to the typical images seen on posters with which the island has announced itself to the outside world. They are made of large blocks of marès (sandstone) and wild olive tree wood, the only building materials at hand in bygone times and which were usually found “on site”. They have Arab tile roofing, as the first link of a collecting system that allowed the desired amount of rainwater to be stored in cisterns and deposits. They have ovens for cooking bread and large dining rooms for the day labourers. They are protected from the elements by small openings facing north and porxades (porches) facing south. They extend according to the expansion of tasks and needs of the families inhabiting them. Menorcan country houses are a fine example of adapting to the environment, although one day they will need a certificate of authenticity. Their leading role as mankind’s contribution to the landscape has increased with the recession experienced by the agricultural sector. Some of the more imposing ones are in the process of, or have already been transformed into very popular country hotels. There are estates, previously cultivated as farms, that have been converted into leisure complexes, up to the point where the friendliness of the white cottages, with their “extensive garden” and suitably removed from pollution, has seduced a new population of urban origin which is gradually replacing their former inhabitants. The demand has forced purchasing prices up so much that there is now a high risk of “rural urbanisation”, new complexes of artificial copies of the model.